Bridges are known to be one of the most vital and vulnerable components of any transportation system. A majority of highway bridges in the world have curved superstructure configurations and also have in-span hinges. The curvature and in-span hinges in multi-frame bridges lead to significant differences in bridge dynamic response during seismic excitations. This article explores the seismic response of concrete curved bridges considering columns height differences and the effects of span number. Five bridge models have been studied including: a four-span bridge model with equal column height as the base model, two bridge models with non-uniform columns height, a three-span bridge and a five-span bridge models having different span numbers. Several dynamic non-linear time history analyses are performed based on seven different records. The results showed that increasing the height of columns and reducing the number of spans in this subclasses of bridges lead to increase the peak of columns drifts and consequently the bridge seismic vulnerability.

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[16] H.Pahlavan, Gh. Ghodrati Amiri, Mshaianfar, B. Zakeri, “Seismic Fragility Curve Development for Curved RC Box-Girder Bridges”, A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Earthquake Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, School of Civil Engineering, (2015).